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Edition: Hardcover Format: Bargain Price Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 531 Publication Date: August 01, 2001 Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's aging but still potent superhero, returns in the 16th adventure in this popular series about the director of special projects for the National Underwater Maritime Administration (NUMA). Pitt's NUMA survey ship happens to be in the vicinity when the world's newest and biggest cruise ship founders and sinks, giving Pitt the chance to stage the daring rescue of nearly 2,000 passengers. Among those who perish is a famous scientist whose revolutionary engines powered the ship to her watery grave; while Pitt is unable to save Dr. Egan, he rescues his beautiful daughter Kelly from the sea, and later from a murder attempt aboard the rescue vessel. Pitt and his trusty pal Al Giordino track the sinking to the boardroom door of a multinational conglomerate called Cerberus, whose evil CEO has designs on the world's oil supply. He'll do anything to keep Egan's advanced engines and secret formula for frictionless oil off the market--even sabotage another vessel, this time a luxury passenger submarine. By the time our heroes have foiled the mastermind's nefarious plots, they've also uncovered the existence of a working submarine nearly a century before one actually existed--irrefutable proof of a Viking landing on the Hudson River--and the remains of the British sailor who inspired Jules Verne's Captain Nemo. A solid page-turner that even features a cameo appearance by the author himself, Valhalla Rising snaps, crackles, and pops with Cussler's usual brio. --Jane Adams Product Description: "Lean, speedy and packing a wallop of a plot twist" was Publishers Weekly's verdict of Steve Martini's The Jury. Now Martini crafts yet another legal nail-biter featuring perennial favorite attorney Paul Madriani. After a lawyer friend is killed along with his client in a hail of gunfire outside the federal courthouse in San Diego, Madriani takes on another client who he believes is involved at the edges of the double murder. He takes the case not to defend the man, but to find out who killed his friend and why. Madriani is tortured by questions of conflict, his duty to a client who may have killed his friend, and the need to know the truth, wondering whether he himself had been marked for death only to have a friend die in his place. Soon he is drawn into a vortex of crime that spans the Americas. As he searches for the killer, Madriani rides the crest of a dangerous wave of international drug deals and people who murder for money. Suddenly he realizes it is not heroin or cocaine that resulted in the murder of his friend, but a priceless piece of pre-Columbian art-something so dazzling in the information it holds as to be one of the treasures of the ages. In a quest that takes Madriani from California to Mexico and the Guatemalan border, he discovers that while the motive to kill may be driven by distant, exotic, and ancient artifacts, the killer, like a serpent, lies much closer at hand. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Cussler is a gentleman.I have read every Clive Cussler book. (I feel we're on a first-name basis!) Whether he's written it alone or with another author, they are always entertaining and of the can't-put-down-til-I-find-out-what-happens variety. My biggest praise is that he writes as someone from today, with a heart for the bygone era. He doesn't need to use blatant sex and vulgar swearing to get his message across. Just like the good, old movies, some things should be left to the imagination ... and Cussler does just that ... Read More Rating:  - Really??While I understand the appeal of formula novels, I was amazed at how bad this one actually is. I am all for suspension of disbelief - I love the ability to delve into unreality on occasion - but here the plot manipulation is pretty silly (though sometimes its fun) while the writing is downright pedantic. Writing oneself into a story is the supreme ego-trip, and to do so in such a strange and useless way just pushes into the absurd. Connecting the mythical/fiction (Jules Verne & Captain Nemo) with ... Read More Rating:  - A Disappointing Read At first I thought Vahalla Rising was going to be a great story, but then it went downhill from there. In the story Mr. Cussler creates the evil corporate CEO who is trying to get a monopoly on the oil industry by sinking or sabotaging rival imports. Then there is the account of how Vikings colonized New York. I could not find any connection between the plot and the Vikings. I plotted through the story looking for a connection that just wasn't there and the "magic" briefcase had me wondering if this ... Read More Rating:  - Standard Dirk PittThis is the last Dirk Pitt book that I really liked. Every other book of his I've read after this one has just seemed to go downhill. This book is fun. It's the standard Dirk Pitt formula: something in the past happens for prolog, Dirk gets in way over his head, Dirk comes and saves the day, tons of action, and lots of fun. Good book for those looking for some good action and good story telling. Rating: - One of my favorites, by a favorite authorIf you haven't read any of Cussler's work, this light read is a great starting place. There are elements in every Cussler text that every fan knows to look for. Dirk's autos, his ladies and that elusive appearance by Clive himself. I never miss a word. I am almost disappointed at the making of Sahara into a movie, that is not at all how I pictured Dirk. |
